I Can’t Stand Bad Drivers, So Why Can’t I Stop Watching Them on YouTube?

How I got so obsessed with watching fender bender dash cam footage

Photo by Gareth Harrison on Unsplash

I can’t remember how exactly I got addicted to watching car accident compilations on YouTube, but I blame it on the algorithm. One day, it implored me to watch “Idiots in Cars #22” and ever since, I haven’t been able to stop. (There’s really something to the adage about not being able to look away from a car crash!) Each video cuts quickly between footage of various idiots driving their cars in unbelievably idiotic ways, and nearly or actually causing accidents due to their idiocy.

The “Idiots in Cars” videos and its ilk have several recurring themes:

• Two cars pulling out their parking spots at exactly the same time so their back bumpers kiss each other (kinda funny)
• A semi on the freeway changing lanes while failing to notice the car beside it (are you kidding me?)
• Trying to take a right turn from the middle lane (so freakin’ dumb)
• Making a left turn on a solid green without looking to see if there’s oncoming traffic (stupid, stupid, stupid)
• Turning onto a road without obeying the stop sign, and then t-boning another car (what a goddamn moron)